Broadway's Marineau back in Kalamazoo to perform at Farmers Alley

Gazette file photoBack to her roots: Barbara Marineau graduated from Western Michigan University and performed at the Barn Theatre before going to Broadway. She's pictured here in a 2006 touring production of "Pippin."

Marineau spoke as she moved into her temporary Kalamazoo apartment, in a building across from the Farmers Alley Theatre, where she will star in "A Catered Affair," March 25-April 10. “I think it (the building) used to be the old Gilmore department store,” she said.

Keeping a connection

She and fellow Barn Theatre veterans, Scott Burkell and Joe Aiello, are joining forces for the Farmers Alley Theatre production of “A Catered Affair.” Though not in this production, another Barn regular, Tom Wopat, starred in the Broadway run of “Affair.”

The Kalamazoo appearance, however, is not exactly a reunion for the actors. Marineau said every month in New York is a “meeting-of-the-Barnies” dinner.

“We’re like a family in New York,” she said, “but it’s fun to get to see them here and to work with them again.”

The last time Marineau was at the Barn was for 1999’s “Noises Off,” also with Burkell and Aiello. But Marineau’s Michigan roots are deep.

Born in Detroit, she moved around as her father switched jobs from working for the FBI to advertising. Marineau lived in Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Saugatuck and Kalamazoo. If she had to pick a hometown, it would be Kalamazoo, because she lived here the longest and attended Western Michigan University, graduating in 1976.

At age 6, she became “hooked” on performing at a Battle Creek talent competition. She was active at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre and at the Grand Rapids and Battle Creek civic theaters. Her first season at the Barn was in 1975.

Broadway bound

In 1976, Marineau moved to New York into a little “fifth floor walk-up in Greenwich Village,” she said.

In the summer of 1977, she got her first Broadway role, in “Shenandoah.” Just before her big number, the power went out: “They held flashlights on us,” she said.

So she got to sing before venturing out into the arson and looting of the infamous New York City blackout of ’77. “Not fun,” was all she had to say about that.

Marineau had Broadway roles in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “King David” and “The Women,” and a role in the tour of “Beauty and the Beast.” Marineau said her high point was originating her role in “A Man of No Importance” (2002-03) at Lincoln Center.

No high point, but something she can laugh at, was her starring role in “When Nature Calls,” a low-brow 1985 comedy from low-budget studio Troma. Her agent thought she should try film work, and sent her the script.

“I read it, and I said, ‘This is just a piece of crap! I can’t even imagine doing it.’”

But she did, thinking it would never be released. It got on a few screens, and then became “a silly cult film” on video. “I actually make out with a moose,” she said, laughing.

Coming soon

Marineau has a small role in a “huge budget” film due out in 2012. The film, “Man On a Ledge,” stars Ed Harris, Sam Worthington and Kyra Sedgwick. But despite its star power, Marineau said filming the cheap Troma flick “was a lot more fun than doing this big-budget movie.”

She’s not eager to do more movie work; her life is on the stage.

“I’ve been very lucky,” she said. “I’ve actually made a living as an actress in New York.”